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Sept. 6, 2006

The first L.A. Weekly sponsored Detour Music Festival is set to be held this October 7 in Los Angeles, with tix for the all-day-long event going on sale this week.  Scheduled to play live sets at the event are Beck, Basement Jaxx, Queens of the Stone Age, Of Montreal, The Elected, and Nortec Collective, among others;  there will also be DJ sets from Steve Aoki and VHS Or Beta.  A portion of the proceeds from the Detour Fest will benefit the non-profit group Tree People, who work to find sustainable solutions to urban ecosystem problems...
 
In other Beck news, Beck wants his fans to “contribute” to the artwork for his upcoming album, The Information - the disc will feature blank packaging and one of four sets of sticker sheets designed by both U.S. and European artists, meaning that fans can deck out their discs in a unique fashion. A contest is also being planned to select the best configuration of album cover decorations, with the final winner being selected by Beck himself.  As for The Information, it will consist of 15 tracks plus a music video for each song, including one, namely “Cell Phone’s Dead,” directed by Michel Gondry...

The Shins have a new album on the way, too, although you’ll have to wait a while to pick up a copy - Wincing the Night Away isn’t scheduled to hit stores until January on Sub Pop Records, due to the fact that the band is being extra-careful with backing tracks and mixing.  Songs set for inclusion include “Spilled Needles,” “Sea Legs,” and the psychedelic-sounding “Red Rabbits” - and you’ll also have to wait to see The Shins live until after the album’s release, although they will be making a single appearance in November at the CMJ Music Marathon...
 
Bob Dylan is hopping onto the tour trail this fall, in part to support his new album, Modern Times, which is due out this week on Columbia Records.  Dylan tapped into a trio of modern rockers to help support him on his jaunt, and will have Kings of Leon opening the first portion of the tour (beginning October 11 in Vancouver), Foo Fighters for the second segment, and The Raconteurs on board for the final third of the tour, which will wrap up in Philadelphia in the middle of November. Stops along the way will include Los Angeles (10/20), Chicago (10/27 and 10/28), St. Paul, MN (10/29), Detroit (11/2), Toronto (11/7), and Boston (11/11 and 11/12)...
 
MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK:  Want to live like a White Stripe? Well, you kinda can, if you’ve got the bucks - $930,000 of ‘em, to be exact - Jack White is selling his house in his hometown of Detroit.  Designed and built in 1914 by architect C. Howard Crane - who worked on Detroit’s United Artists Theater and Atlanta’s Fox Theater - the house was also used to record much of the White Stripes’ “Get Behind Me Satan” album, and to film the Stripes’ music video for “Blue Orchid.”  It’s the perfect piece of fan memorabilia for the well-heeled White Stripes fan - find out more at http://www.1731seminole.com/

MINI BUZZ: 
The kinda-reunited Smashing Pumpkins have entered a recording studio to begin work on their first album in seven years...
Badly Drawn Boy is set to take part in a charity festival in Manchester, England that will raise money for a peace park in Kosovo; also appearing at the event will be Doves, Graham Coxon, and Elbow, among others...
Pop-rockers Panic! at the Disco and UK rockers Bloc Party will be touring together in North America this fall; the theater/small arenas tour will kick off on November 7, and will wrap up in early December...
The Killers, who have just about completed work on their next album, popped up in their hometown of Las Vegas last week to preview songs in front of a 400-strong audience...
Tenacious D’s feature film, Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny, is now set for release on November 17, with a soundtrack album to hit stores three days earlier complete with an appearance from Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl... 
A donkey and a Scary Spice?  Yep, that’s the latest buzz in the biz - actor/attempted singer Eddie Murphy and former Spice
Girl Melanie Brown are reportedly making plans to marry...
 
And, while you’re pondering that little tidbit of Hollywood info, you can take a listen to this week’s new releases...

ON CD:  OutKast’s Idlewild... Pete Yorn’s Nightcrawler... Danity Kane’s eponymous Danity Kane... The Roots’ Game Theory... The Black Crowes’ The Lost Crowes... and The Beach Boys’ 40th Anniversary limited edition release of their legendary Pet Sounds album...  

ON DVD:  Another Black Crowes release, namely Black Crowes: Who Killed That Bird Out on Your Windowsill... John Entwistle’s An Ox Tale... Burn to Shine 03: Portland, OR featuring performances from The Shins, The Decemberists, Sleater Kinney, and Quasi... and Pink Floyd’s Piper at the Gates of Dawn - Rock Milestones... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.
 
Questions, comments, rants, raves, suggestions on this column or your fave musicians?  Send ’em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com